Do they whine? One vendor told me the front gear set would whine slightly. If my truck were to whine after getting new gears, so would the passenger; too much whining for me! Are the OEM 3.92's a better option for a quiet application? My AWD truck is used 50% commuting, 25% towing a 4400# camper through the GA mountains, and 25% in 4WD on USFS roads, and currently has 3.55's. Where can good, quiet 4.10's be purchased?

Thanks,

Dummby

 

If the tech installs your gears correctly they wont whine.

 

what he said

 

This completely reminds me of "Hot Fuzz". Lol

For the original poster, here is a good understanding from Randy's Ring and Pinion.

It is most likely a result of the gear not being broken in properly or driven "too hard, too soon." When this happens, the gear oil breaks down and the resulting temperature inside the differential causes the face of the gear to wear away exposing the softer metal underneath. When this happens the gear will wear down more and more until the gear completely fails.

 

Thanks for the replies!

So, is finding and buying the least expensive gears and then using a reliable technician the best thing to do? What is the best way to break in new gears properly? What about rebuild/install kits, is there a difference in any of them? Are they necessities?

Thanks,

Dummby

 

Yes Yes Yes

I would only use Motive or Yukon gears, Richmond is noisy. I had 4.56 Yukons along with a full install kit on my old Dakota and it worked great. When they were installing the gears one of my bearings was seized up but was not showing symptoms yet. So the kit for $99 or so is very worth it (might as well make your diffy all new). Break in should be done with no full throttle runs, no towing and no long hot drives for the first 100-200 miles. Change the fluid and clean out all the ground down metal which is normal, then your good to go give it hell.

You should have no noise, if only a very slight whine at certain speeds that you can only hear with no radio and windows down. It should be silent for the most part (unless you use cheap gears) if it's noisy then your install might not be correct. Go with someone that is use to installing higher ratio gears and has good word of mouth.

 

back in 05 when I bought my dak with the 3.55, thats one of the first things I did, peter haney at www.ctaxleservice.com did my swap, took 2 days. the gears were available, but at the time no bearing kits so he had to piece one together. Still beating the snot out of my truck, just turned 111000 miles. best move I ever made. Being you have awd. you may have some issues, but not to sure, first 500 miles I was told to baby truck, but at times be brutal to help break gears in. Also a few hard launches in 4 x 4 helped set the gears to. After the 500 mile break in, went back and had the gear oil changed, now every 30000 miles it gets changed. You will be amazed at the difference with towing and all around driving

 

Your advice is invaluable!

It looks like this will have to be a winter project, if there is no towing allowed for an extended peiod. The good thing is that it allows for some time to find a good deal. So far, it looks like Yukon Gears, available with a lifetime, no questions asked warranty, are about $130 more than Motive. Doo-doo occurs, but what is the probability of properly installed gears failing? Also, there seems to be a huge disparity in the prices of rebuild kits, $50 - $300. What should be included in a bare bones kit, and what is recommended?

Thanks,

Dummby

 

http://www.ringpinion.com/ProductDet...px?ProdID=8987 full install kit $180

http://www.ringpinion.com/ProductDet...px?ProdID=5377 bare bones kit $20

It's up to you, if you have a lot of miles it would be good to refresh the bearings, if your confident it's all good go with the basic kit. A good shop should have spare parts on hand or can get them within a day if something else is needed.

 

My 4.10s never wined. I bought them from Bill at KRC Performance.